President Jacob Zuma’s been accused of delaying tactics to avoid his day in court facing prosecution on 783 charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering.
South Africa’s Appeal Court has reserved judgment in the matter as Zuma’s counsel seeks to take the eight-year legal battle all the way back to the beginning.
President Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority appealed a High Court decision last year that dropping the charges against Zuma was irrational.
At the start of proceedings yesterday, Zuma’s counsel Kemp J Kemp made the shock admission that the decision by the then prosecuting authority head Mokotedi Mpshe was based on the wrong statute.
Mpshe found that there were political motives for trying Zuma on the charges relating to the 1999 arms procurement deal by the African National Congress government
However Kemp maintains that if the court accepts this, the prosecution authority has to have an opportunity to make the correct decision.
This would put the matter into the hands of the existing prosecution authority director Shaun Abrahams.
Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos says Zuma’s making another bid to get corruption charges dropped and he’s confident he’ll get a sympathetic ear from Abrahams.
The Democratic Alliance , who took the matter to the High Court, says it will resume its legal battle if Zuma manages to dodge further court action.